Your Pets and Pool Safety...PLEASE READ!

This post is a reminder of those with swimming pools and pets to make sure that you have sufficient safeguards in place to protect your animals from drowning.

A couple of weeks ago, our almost 13-year old Lhasa Apso, Woody, who has lived with us at this home for the past 5 years and for 8 years in total, was becoming quite blind in the past year and went through the doggy door in middle of the night, as he does frequently, and accidentally fell into our pool. The motion light apparently was not tripped and he miss-stepped, I'm sure, and fell into the pool, because he could not see the edge. And, he apparantly could not find the steps that were about 6 feet away. Very, very sad and heart-breaking. My wife and I were devastated.

Here are some of the steps we have taken since (I am passing this info along to whom ever I can to further awareness):

1) We did research concerning dog/pool safety and discovered an item called a Skamper-Ramp. This is the first we had seen of a non-fence device, so we immediately took off to purchase two of them. We have installed them and have worked with our miniature poodle, Indie, to use them. She seems to "understand" the premise and successfully used them in tests we performed in the pool. See www.skamper-ramp.com

2) We have also installed this week a timer for our pool light which comes on at dusk and turns off at dawn. This "all-night" lighting will definitely help and I believe would have prevented the accident that we recently encountered. The timer is also in a metal box which we lock to prevent any tampering or "accidental turn-off". It is further protected by a Home Surge Protector and two Lightening Arrestors that we also had installed this week.

3) We also have purchased a Safety Turtle alarm system which attaches a sensor to our dog(s)' collar(s) and electronically sounds off at a base station in the house when any pet falls into the pool. We are also trying to get info on having it wired into our home alarm system so that the Fire Department will also be notified, as a last resort, should we not be at home. I talked with the inventor of the device, who lives in Canada, yesterday and he said this is possible and that the Home Base he sold me would work as a stand-a-lone (using a plug) OR within the context of a our home alarm system. I am checking with local officials to make sure they will respond to this type of alert.

4) We have also put large potted plants and ceramic sculptures around our pool edge to make sure our dogs will not run consistantly around the edge of the pool, and miss-step, to find themselves in deep water and drowniing. this keeps the dogs at least 2 feet from the edge when they are running around the pool. Very helpful.

We have found out the hard way that though dogs are familiar with a pool and its location, accidents can happen. It only takes ONE time. This, hopefully, will never happen again on our watch. Again, my wife and I were totally devastated by this horrible accident and wish we had realized the additional need for these extra safety devices earlier.

Please reassess your pool situation and do a few simple steps that can save your favorite family petl

I am very sorry about your dog. My little shih-a-pek Sadie fell into our pool a few years back. Sadie & our 4 shih tzu all love to run on the pool cover & swim. We had taken the cover off & Sadie didn't realize it & fell in. I went looking for her & she was almost dead. My son jumped in & got her out. I didn't see much hope but we were able to save her. Thankfully I was a vet tech many years ago. Sadie was very lucky.

We tried that ramp you mentioned but it didn't work for us. We made one with those pool noodle toys & lots of plastic ties & outdoor carpet. Two large cement pavers hold it to the cement around the pool. It stays in the pool 24/7. When we take the pool cover off all the dogs are splashed with water so they know the pool is open. A foam raft is always left in the pool too. I have also seen a decline in chipmunks etc in the pool.

CDC Reports Prevalence Of Worms Transmitted By Dogs And Cats To Humans Is Higher Than Previously Understood

About 14 percent of the U.S. population is infected with Toxocara, or internal roundworms, contracted from dogs and cats. That's according to the results of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study announced at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in Philadelphia.

The CDC study shows the transmission of Toxocara from dogs and cats to people is most common in young children and youth under age 20, and more common in non-Hispanic Blacks than in Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic Whites of all age groups. It is highest in lower socioeconomic and less-educated populations. All children, however, are more susceptible to infection given their propensity to play in and sometimes eat contaminated soil.

Infections are acquired by accidental ingestion of Toxocara eggs found in environments contaminated with feces of infected dogs and cats. This includes play areas and sandboxes.

"The results of this study demonstrate that Toxocara infection in the United States is more widespread and common than previously understood," said Peter Schantz, VMD, PhD, an epidemiologist in the Division of Parasitic Diseases at the CDC and a founding board member of the Companion Animal Parasite Council (CAPC). "Although most persons infected with Toxocara have no apparent symptoms, this infectious agent is capable of causing blindness and other serious systemic illness, which makes it a public health issue."

While rare, the visual impairment most often affects children. Since toxocariasis is not a reportable infection, true numbers of cases of visual impairment and other syndromes are not known, according to Schantz.

The nonprofit CAPC was formed to educate pet owners about zoonotic disease and steps they can take to virtually eliminate the risk of pets making people sick.

"The CAPC recommends that pet owners administer year-round preventive medicines that control internal and external parasites -- such as roundworms, heartworm, fleas and ticks -- for the life of their dog or cat no matter where they live," said Michael Paul, DVM, executive director of the CAPC. "If you prevent parasitic infections in companion animals, you greatly reduce the chances of zoonotic transmission to people."

The American Animal Hospital Association, the American Association of Feline Practitioners and Schantz of the CDC all endorse the CAPC guidelines that call for year-round parasite control in companion animals to protect both pets and people from zoonotic disease. Parasite control today is simple, safe and effective. Treating dogs and cats for parasites with a monthly product is one of the easiest and most effective ways to keep pets healthy and eliminate related health risks to humans.

Despite the availability of effective treatments to prevent them, parasites -- some deadly -- remain a common fact of life for dogs and cats. Most companion animals have the potential for exposure to parasites all year long. Experts agree there is a year-round threat in all regions of the country, even those that experience below-freezing temperatures, since parasites such as fleas and ticks thrive inside homes regardless of weather conditions outdoors.

The actual infection rate is far, far higher than the CDC is even claiming. And testing for parasites is very poor, almost a shot in the dark, the fact that they found them in 14% of the children tested means the number is staggering high in reality, the only test for a small number of parasites, and then only catch them about 15% of the time, so in reality, the transmissions to humans is very high indeed. Much more will be coming out on this over the next several years. I wonder if you've noticed the new drugs for Schitzo and BiPolar and such have names like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aripiprazole and things that end in “azole” are typically anti-parasiticals, ie, Albendazole, Menbendazole, Fenbendazole (all of which I have taken). And you will see that side effects are the side effects of anti-parasiticals, I see commericials for Aripiprazole every day on TV. It causes diabetic's to get worse and non diabetics to have diabetic symtpoms, this is because it attempts the shut down the abilty of parasites to process sugar and has a big effect on the body. Many of the depression and psyche drugs are now anti-parasiticals and for a good reason, the toxins you get from worms living in your body, dying and excreting waste is hell to pay on your system. Eventually, other degenerative diseases kick in (not currently thought by the laymen to be caused by parasites but that is about to change). Tell you're doctor you think you have parasitical worms and he'll ask you when you were in Africa last. This shows the ignorance of it all. It is all coming out now through some new studies not yet released, but America's love affair with animals has come with a very high price, and America's children are suffering for it. I wonder how many Americans would have gotten that pet had they really known that the parasitical worms in them are just as happy to live in humans, and the fact that once infected you will get no help from doctors, you will simply die later of something that looks like Lupis, MS, ALS, Alzhiemers, ect ...

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